My Very First Blog Post

I've decided to go for it! I am starting a blog. I have been debating on this for weeks now and just decided to try it out and see how it goes.....so, we will see! There are several reasons why I wanted to start blogging.  Mainly, because with recent circumstances, (the loss of my sweet sister at such a young age) I have come to realize how very precious life is! This is a great way to document things that are going on in our life and something for my boys to be able to look back on when they are older. I know that my memories of childhood are somewhat limited and blurry. Pictures help, but written (or typed) words I believe help tell the story much better! ;) My other reason is to keep our families involved with our day to day lives. We don't live too terribly close to my family or Kit's family, so we all miss out on the day to day stuff that goes on in each others lives. At least this way there is more of a chance of feeling connected. (If they decide to read it that is! :) Ha!) Facebook has been an awesome way to stay connected over the past few years, but I post more pictures than anything! For those of you that don't know....I LOVE taking pictures! It has been a hobby of mine for some time and hopefully it will turn into more than that somewhere down the road! But, with facebook you don't really have a choice of what you view that I post (unless you have blocked me from your news feed!) With a blog, you only come read my blog if you want to! So.....here it is! The name of my blog was inspired by a dear friend of ours, Spring Tyler. We met in 2005 when Kit and I first moved to Forsyth, and we were instant friends. She nicknamed me "Mix" right out of the gate. I have gained many nicknames over the years.....Mel, Meli Ann, Melers, Chica Mel, Faber, Zanz, Rootie.....some other seriously long ones....Meli Ann Morine Jirene Corine, and Zataranzerbellumgramamaissimomo.....don't ask! LOL! I come from a pretty "unique" family, and we have weird words for alot of stuff! (It's funny too how our kids started speaking our language from the time they were talking and most people have no idea what we are talking about when we talk this way! Anyway..... I thought using one of my more recent nicknames and a play on my last name would be a good fit for my blog!

Current life....
We are all still processing the death of my sweet sister, Crystal. There are days when the whole scene just doesn't seem as if it could possibly be real life. Getting a cancer diagnosis on our dad's birthday (Dec. 28th) and not making it even 2 months.....Harsh! There is not a day that goes by (rarely an hour) that Crystal is not on my mind. Grief is weird too....so many stages and emotions that change with each passing day! But, here is what I tell myself when I get sad and I shared these thoughts with Mom and Joey over the weekend....We should not wallow in sorrow. Crystal would not want that! If anything we should take this as a life lesson....that life can be short and we NEVER know and are NEVER promised another day. So, don't take it for granted! Get out there and LIVE!! No regrets! For me...be a good leader for Jesus, be a good follower of Jesus, be a good wife, be a good mother, be a good daughter, be a good sister, be a good friend! I think if I do these things, Crystal will be proud! She will smile down on me. Because, rest assured....she is not sad! She is happy, healthy, and living her new eternal life! Sadness gets the best of us all at times and its good to get it out and let those emotions flow! But, I mean the true wallowing in sorrow that any of us feel in losing a loved one....there is nothing that we can do to change the situation, there is no point in saying "what if"! None of that matters now! No good can come from it.  The good that can come is in learning from it.... learning how to be healthier, learning to love and to live and to give of yourself to others in a selfless way! That's my take on it anyway. Don't get me wrong....I am still sad every day! I still have tears flowing almost every day. (Like right now!) But, my smiles are real. When you see me out and I am enjoying myself and smiling and laughing, that is real! Because, I know Crystal would want me to live life on Earth to the fullest!  The ONE thing that I am ALWAYS wishing though is that she was right beside me smiling, and laughing (she had a beautiful smile and the most wonderful laugh, often times followed up with a good clap!)! She will forever live on in my mind, in my heart, and in all the wonderful memories we shared together!

Please realize that I know my grammar stinks. I'm not going to get caught up in all that. (Sorry Mrs. Ward: my favorite English teacher) I'm more of a free flowing kinda gal. :)

I just want to say that I have been feeling overwhelmed with emotions over the last week. The benefit concert honoring Crystal's life on Saturday night was absolutely beautiful and PERFECT! Beyond the emotions of missing her and celebrating her life, my emotions have turned towards thankfulness! My heart is so FULL! I am thankful for all of the MANY wonderful people I have in my life. I am truly blessed beyond words! From the time Crystal was admitted into the hospital in December and all of our worlds were turned upside down, so many people selflessly stepped up to help out in any way possible....and this has continued. The organizing of the benefit concert touched my heart so much! Not only was so much time and effort poured out by our sweet friends, Spring and Chad, but the help they received from many along the way in making this night a success...truly amazing! The musicians were awesome by the way and they gave of their time freely... and were happy to do it! I am just feeling so blessed to have so many awesome people in my life that have given to me and my family in our time of need! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!! Mere words could never express how overwhelmingly lucky and blessed I feel! When we live in a world that seems so hopeless at times, it is a nice reminder to see the good in people! I am lucky to be surrounded by truly good hearted people!

At the concert there were trees that were donated for us to plant in memory of Crystal and the quote tied to the trees sums life up perfectly!!  "Do all the good you can, in all the ways you can, to all the souls you can, at all the times you can, with all the zeal you can, as long as ever you can." - John Wesley

I am going to attempt to post a few pictures from the concert with this blog...

Here is Crystal's sweet family....Joey with the kids - Tyler (8) and Caitlin (5)

 

Here are the very talented musicians....Matt Pippin, Thomas Tillman, & Jared Wade...and a guest appearance by our dear friend Chad Tyler...singing a song he co-wrote called Blue Cans

A picture of some of the folks who came out to show their love and support for Crystal's family!

Until next time.....